Mission Resident Transforms Garage Door Into Political Platform

Mission Resident Transforms Garage Door Into Political PlatformCharles Maloney standing in front of his painted garage. | Photo: Jessica Park/Hoodline
Jessica Park
Published on September 11, 2017

For most, a garage is a place to store one's car or household belongings. But for Charles Maloney of Guerrero Street, it's a public platform for voicing his frustration with the president and his administration.

"The impetus was that following the election, there was an immediate hue and cry to do something, anything," said Maloney.

"Whether it was to run for office, or whether it was to demonstrate, [people did] anything at all to express abject and disgust with what had happened." 

The Mission homeowner told Hoodline that he decided on this art project, "The Trump Kakistrocracy," about a month ago.

Initially, he was going to create posters and hang them outside his home, but he nixed the idea after he realized they could easily be ripped down and vandalized.

Instead, he decided to paint over his white garage door with 36 words that he thought were fitting to describe the current commander-in-chief. 

Maloney worked with three artists from New Bohemia Signs for about seven to eight hours to complete this project.

"This is the canvas I had," said Maloney, "so I just sat down for 15 minutes and started thinking of all the adjectives that ended in 'IC,' like 'solipsistic' [and] 'nepotistic,' and 15 minutes later, I had this list."

"The goal was not to get notoriety," he added, "[but]...to simply express my distaste and disgust for this imbecile in the White House." 

In addition to sharing his views, he also wanted to "encourage people to go look at their dictionaries." 

Words like solipsistic (extreme egocentrism) and emetic (vomit-inducing) aren't commonly used, but for Maloney, who owns 12 dictionaries, his politically-charged door was also an opportunity to share his love for linguistics. 

Photo: Charles L.

It's been about a month since he unveiled his artwork, and he told us that he hasn't had any problems with vandals yet.

But this hasn't prevented Maloney from keeping an eye on his garage whenever he hears people outside his house.

"I will admit and confess that if I hear something going on, I'll look out the window to make sure somebody isn't tagging it," said Maloney. "But more often than not, I'll see people taking selfies, and I've had complete strangers come up to me in the neighborhood." 

As for the longevity of the political statement, the Mission resident hopes to keep it up as long as the president is still in office.

But even if it doesn't make it that long, this isn't the end for Maloney's expression through art. While nothing is set in stone, Maloney said he may devise other art works in the future.